{"podcast":{"title":"It's Not the Car","slug":"it-s-not-the-car-6747786","podcast_index_feed_id":6747786,"rss_url":"https://anchor.fm/s/f02659d0/podcast/rss","website_url":"https://www.itsnotthecar.com","image_url":"https://d3t3ozftmdmh3i.cloudfront.net/staging/podcast_uploaded_nologo/40190452/40190452-1704583104013-fbbc87158798b.jpg","author":"Sam Smith, Ross Bentley, Jeff Braun","episode_count":109,"summary":"It’s Not the Car is a podcast about people and speed. We tell racing stories and leave out the boring parts. Ross Bentley is a former IndyCar driver and a world-renowned performance coach. Jeff Braun is a champion race engineer with time in NASCAR and IMSA. Sam Smith is an award-winning journalist, a club racer, and a former executive editor of Road & Track magazine. We don’t love motorsport for the nuts and bolts—we love it for what it asks of the meatbag at the wheel.","last_synced_at":null,"page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/it-s-not-the-car-6747786"},"episode":{"title":"Racing Stories That Change Your Life","slug":"racing-stories-that-change-your-life","published_at":"2026-02-03T10:00:01+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/it-s-not-the-car-6747786/racing-stories-that-change-your-life","show_page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/it-s-not-the-car-6747786","url":"https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/its-not-the-car/episodes/Racing-Stories-That-Change-Your-Life-e3eihii","audio_url":"https://anchor.fm/s/f02659d0/podcast/play/114951186/https%3A%2F%2Fd3ctxlq1ktw2nl.cloudfront.net%2Fstaging%2F2026-1-3%2Ffc05c96e-7bbc-3153-c2a2-a80828303810.mp3","summary":"We’re back! INTC’s third season starts… now! Are we celebrating by going full nerd with this one? Does Alex Palou wear Labubu pajamas? Did Sam have a dream last week where Ross and Jeff heckled him from the audience like Statler and Waldorf from The Muppets ? (The answers, respectively: yes; definitely yes; and dear lord, it was deeply weird but also oddly delightful, yes.) You asked for it: This is an episode about books! Racing books, to be specific—the ones that changed our lives. And naturally, Sam decided to turn it into a fun little game show, because he’s broken like that. *** IN THIS EP: The racing book that tops them all — Jimmy Clark scars a young Ross — Mark Donohue scars a young Sam — The zen phrases Ross keeps under his pillow at night — The Lady Badass McSuitcase — and more! This show changes format weekly, because squirrel. This week’s format is an experiment—we call it “THOSE PEOPLE DON’T READ.” This episode was produced by Sam Smith. ** BOOKS IN THIS EP: “By Brooks Too Broad For Leaping” by Denise McCluggage: https://www.abebooks.com/servlet/SearchResults?ds=20&kn=by%20brooks%20too%20broad%20for%20leaping&ref_=ds_ac_rk&sts=t * “Jim Clark at the Wheel” by Jim Clark: https://www.abebooks.com/servlet/SearchResults?ds=20&kn=jim%20clark%20at%20the%20wheel&ref_=ds_ac_d_22&sts=t * “Stand On It” by Bill Neely and Bob Ottum: https://www.abebooks.com/servlet/SearchResults?ds=20&kn=stand%20on%20it&ref_=ds_ac_d_11&sts=t * “Thinking Body, Dancing Mind” by Chungliang Al Huang: https://www.amazon.com/Thinking-Body-Dancing-Mind-Extraordinary/dp/0553373781/ * “The Unfair Advantage” by Mark Donohue: https://www.amazon.com/Unfair-Advantage-Mark-Donohue/dp/0837600693/ * “How to Build a Car” by Adrian Newey: https://www.amazon.com/How-Bu…","meta_description":"We’re back! INTC’s third season starts… now! Are we celebrating by going full nerd with this one? Does Alex Palou wear Labubu pajamas? Did Sam have a drea…","key_points":[],"chapters":[],"topics":[],"duration_seconds":2993,"processing_state":"not_requested","actions":[{"name":"request_transcript","method":"POST","url":"https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/it-s-not-the-car-6747786/episodes/racing-stories-that-change-your-life/transcription-requests","description":"Idempotently request low-priority transcript generation for this episode."},{"name":"read_markdown","method":"GET","url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/it-s-not-the-car-6747786/racing-stories-that-change-your-life.md","description":"Read the agent-friendly Markdown representation of this episode resource."}]}}